diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 9385af61e1..cdded14167 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ guide](https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/wiki/Setting-Up-a-Metasplo
 
 * **Do** stick to the [Ruby style guide](https://github.com/bbatsov/ruby-style-guide).
 * **Do** follow the [50/72 rule](http://tbaggery.com/2008/04/19/a-note-about-git-commit-messages.html) for Git commit messages.
+* **Do** create a [topic branch](http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Branching-Branching-Workflows#Topic-Branches) to work on instead of working directly on `master`.
 
 ### Pull Requests